Sentience, Rationality, and Moral Status: A Further Reply to Hsiao

Timothy Hsiao argues that animals lack moral status because they lack the capacity for the sort of higher-level rationality required for membership in the moral community. Stijn Bruers and László Erdős have already raised a number of objections to this argument, to which Hsiao has replied with some success. But I think a stronger critique can be made. Here I raise further objections to three aspects of Hsiao's view: his conception of the moral community, his idea of root capacities grounded in one's nature, and his explanation of why cruelty is wrong. I also argue that sentience is a more plausible candidate for the morally salient capacity than rationality

Dust in the Wind: A Definitive Hou/New Cinema Work

Book Summary: For younger critics and audiences, Taiwanese cinema enjoys a special status, comparable with that of Italian Neorealism and the French New Wave for earlier generations, a cinema that was and is in the midst of introducing an innovative sensibility and a fresh perspective. Hou Hsiao-hsien is the most important Taiwanese filmmaker working today, and his sensuous, richly nuanced films reflect everything that is vigorous and genuine in contemporary film culture. By combining multiple forms of tradition with a uniquely cinematic approach to space and time, Hou has created a body of work that, through its stylistic originality and historical gravity, opens up new possibilities for the medium. Chapter Summary: This chapter is part of the latest anthology devoted to Taiwan\u27s most famous director, Hou Hsiao-hsien. It argues that the lesser known Dust in the Wind is a definitive work for both Hou and the New Cinema movement that made him famous

The US Dollar-Euro exchange rate and US-EMU bond yield differentials: A Causality Analysis

This paper test for causality between the US Dollar-Euro exchange rate and US-EMU bond yield differentials. To that end, we apply Hsiao (1981)’s sequential procedure to daily data covering the 1999-2011 period. Our results suggest the existence of statistically significant Granger causality running one-way from bond yield differentials to the exchange rate, but not the other way around.Causality, Exchange rate, Long-term interest rates, Rolling regression

On a Failed Defense of Factory Farming

Timothy Hsiao attempts to defend industrial animal farming by arguing that it is not inherently cruel. We raise three main objections to his defense. First, his argument rests on a misunderstanding of the nature of cruelty. Second, his conclusion, though technically true, is so weak as to be of virtually no moral significance or interest. Third, his contention that animals lack moral standing, and thus that mistreating them is wrong only insofar as it makes one more disposed to mistreat other humans, is untenable on both philosophical and biological grounds

Tribute to T. W. Anderson

Professor T.W. Anderson passed away on September 17, 2016 at the age of 98 years after an astonishing career that spanned more than seven decades. Standing at the nexus of the statistics and economics professions, Ted Anderson made enormous contributions to both disciplines, playing a significant role in the birth of modern econometrics with his work on structural estimation and testing in the Cowles Commission during the 1940s, and educating successive generations through his brilliant textbook expositions of time series and multivariate analysis. This article is a tribute to his many accomplishments

Quantitation of buried contamination by use of solvents

Experiments directed at determining the potential of reclaimed silicone polymers for reuse are described

Boston University Wind Ensemble, October 24, 2002

This is the concert program of the Boston University Wind Ensemble performance on Thursday, October 24, 2002 at 8:00 p.m., at the Tsai Performance Center, 685 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Aaron Copland, "Chanson et Danses," Op. 50 by Vincent d'Indy, "Gallimaufry" by Guy Woolfenden, "Toccata Marziale" by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and "The Divine Comedy" by Robert W. Smith. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

The Dirty War Index: A Public Health and Human Rights Tool for Examining and Monitoring Armed Conflict Outcomes

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks and Michael Spagat introduce the "Dirty War Index," a public health tool that identifies rates of undesirable or prohibited war outcomes inflicted on populations during armed conflict